At the Hem of Empire: How a colonial woman struggled to make her mark

When William John Smith unexpectedly proposes to eighteen year old Ann Neilson, she imagines a future as a prosperous colonist's wife in the convict free settlement of South Australia. She finds herself instead at Kororāreka in New Zealand's Bay of Islands, a place widely known as the Hell Hole of the South Pacific. With her eldest at death's door, and the family losing everything in the first Māori uprising, does she have the courage to start again?Ann's story begins in the narrow Wynds of Glasgow. Despite strong opposition from her mother, Ann and John marry, intending to travel to South Australia.Unfortunately they find the colony is in an economic depression and their business is failing. The arrival of a ship looking for prospective settlers in New Zealand fires John's imagination.The small family arrive in Kororāreka, just at the signing of the treaty of Waitangi. As the Māori realise the implications of this, there is increasing unrest. Finally Hōne Heke Pōkai cuts down the British flag, and leads a rebellion. Some forty-five years later, Ann, now a widow, is a wealthy matriarch of the small township of Smithfield, South Australia. Looking back on her life, she contemplates the legacy she will leave, blind to the strained relationships between her daughters. As Ann's life comes to its inevitable end, will she realise her mistakes before it is too late?Based on a true story, Ann's extraordinary life saw her witness the birth of two modern nations. A story of courage, resilience, family and the desire of one woman to leave a surviving legacy of her own. on a true story, At the Hem of the Empire explores the often overlooked experiences of women during the European colonisation of Australia and New Zealand.

Pagina's: 300, Paperback, Shortwoman Press